Run the following script (if you're on OS X or Ubuntu/Debian) and grab a warm beverage of your choice while your machine configures itself for Drupal development.

If you're not on one of the aforementioned platforms, follow our steps and translate them for use on your platform.

Give me the one-liner

This script was tested on fresh machines with either OS X El Capitan 10.11 or Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. It encompasses steps 0 through 3 outlined below. Skip to step 4 to see how to power up your first VM.
Run the following in a bash-compatible shell:

Follow the on-screen directions to complete this process.
After installing Homebrew we can tap into a useful source in Homebrew called Cask.
This will allow us to install a wide variety of applications like Vagrant and VirtualBox through the command line instead of clicking through wizards.
You can "tap" into Cask with the following:

brew tap caskroom/cask

Debian-based Linux (Ubuntu/Mint)

We need git to be installed for things to run smoothly:

sudoapt-get installgit-y

Step 1: Installing Vagrant

Development at Third & Grove is typically started from one of our base Vagrant boxes, which we have for both Drupal 7 and Drupal 8. This makes Vagrant the most important thing for us to install.

Debian-based Linux (Ubuntu/Mint)

Step 2: Installing PHP and dependencies

We choose to install PHP 5.6, as this matches our target environment of Acquia's servers.

Mac OS X

Through the power of dependencies, we can install the one dependency we need in our local PHP install, and PHP 5.6 is installed for us.

brew install homebrew/php/php56-memcached
brew install mysql

Debian-based Linux (Ubuntu/Mint)

sudoapt-get install php5-mysql php5 php5-memcached memcached -y

Step 3: Installing Composer and Drush

Composer and Drush are both valuable tools in a Drupal environment. We use Drush when we set up our local websites and operate on remotes. It makes life easier by allowing you to run commands such user-login or cache-rebuild and more that you use on a daily basis in Drupal development.

OS X and Debian-based Linux

Both platforms share this step. However, on OS X there is no need to sudo for the final command, as the permissions in /usr/local/bin are loosened thanks to Homebrew.

Written by

Marie first learned to program in middle school, when she hid a computer under a bed, programmed an online game in VB6, and customized an SMF forum for a long-gone community. Since then, Marie has led AP-level Java courses, run Drupal from version 6, and is now Acquia certified to tackle the craziest Drupal builds.